


The Actor

by OllyJay



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-11-19 16:56:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11317701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OllyJay/pseuds/OllyJay
Summary: Jane asks Jack for help.





	The Actor

**Author's Note:**

> Here 'tis... my second celebratory fic!

"Tell me you’re joking?” Jack pleaded as he stood by the mantlepiece in the parlour.

Jane, barely able to contain her laughter at the dramatically anguished tone of his voice, shook her head as solemnly as she could manage, “You’ll be an excellent actor - please will you do this?” She tried the winning smile she had been practising just for this occasion, “For me?"

Jack flung his right arm up, bringing the back of his hand to rest against his forehead and grasping urgently at the mantle over the fire place with his left - seemingly on the verge of physical and emotional collapse, “Oh, if only I had arrested you the moment I saw you on that train to Ballarat, then you’d be languishing in a dark, dank dungeon instead of here, making my life a misery.”

This time she couldn’t help but burst into laughter, “And that,” she admired the perfection of his stance, “is exactly why I need you to do this.”

“Bother!” he exhaled as he dropped his hand and reverted to a standard fireplace lean. He straightened his back, angled his head to gave her a supercilious look straight down his nose and, speaking in crisp tones slightly higher than his normal register, pointed out, “If you had an ounce of true artistic understanding Miss Ross you would recognise the excellence that I would bring to the role of Mr Darcy.”

A fresh peal of laughter ensued.

In the kitchen Phryne smiled at Mr Butler. He nodded happily, “It would appear that we did not underestimate Miss Jane’s powers of persuasion.”

“Do you think she’s realised yet that he’s already capitulated?” Phryne enquired.

“Possibly not, he is after all excellent at hiding his true intentions,” Mr Butler noted as he arranged a selection of delicate sandwiches on a plate.

Phryne, absent mindedly helping herself to one and inadvertently destroying the perfect balance he had created, mused, “He told me once that he wasn’t a very good actor.”

Tobias Butler, calmly moving the remaining sandwiches into another perfect pattern, replied, “He lied.”

She chewed slowly on the sandwich, considering the implications of that comment, “You’re right.” It occurred to her that this should have been quite a shocking revelation but somehow she wasn’t worried. “That’s what makes him such an incredible detective though, isn’t it?”

Mr Butler, adding a pot of tea to the tray, pointed out, “An honest person couldn’t do the job he does. You know that, Miss.” There was no judgment in his voice.

She nodded. 

He continued, “What matters is why you're lying.” He moved towards the pantry to find the favourite biscuits of the man in the parlour who was currently entirely focussed on making a young girl breathless with laughter. “We're very lucky he’s on our side, Miss.”

That, she thought, was an indisputable truth.

In the parlour the pleading continued. “Please, Jack? My only other option is Guy and he’ll turn the whole thing into a farce, especially if he’s playing opposite Isabella. At least if he plays Mr Darcy I can rely on Miss Phryne to keep him honest.”

Jack relaxed back into his normal lean, with perhaps just a shade of nonchalance. “Hmmm…. the old divide and conquer ploy…”

She gazed up at him, hoping he wouldn’t know that behind her back the fingers of both hands were childishly crossed.

He drummed his fingers on the mantle thoughtfully, eyes twinkling and a roguish grin forming on his handsome face, “… by the Gods," he slapped his hand down on the mantle, "that sounds a fine lark – count me in!” 

More girlish laughter rung out. “I never said you wouldn’t be a perfect Darcy, Jack, but you _will_ make the best Wickham ever!” Forgetting herself completely she rushed over to hug him.

“For the record,” he whispered into her hair as he wholeheartedly returned the hug, “you had me at the smile.”


End file.
